My Boring Story of How I Started Working From Home

I think my story of how I started working from home is much like everyone else's. I was working at a job I really hated. It paid very well and the benefits were a dream.

I might as well tell you now that it was a Government job. I worked at a Post Office.

My Husband's job pays well also and his benefits are good. Not as good as the ones I had, but nothing to sneeze at either.

We have two children. One was in daycare and the other was in 2nd grade. I always felt like I was missing out since I was working all the time.

So Many Choices, Which One Do I Pick?

Ever since I bought my first computer back in 1998, the thought of making a living online has interested me. I've must have tried everything I could think of and spent a lot of money looking for the right online business opportunity.

It finally dawned on me one day that all I was doing was making the "Guru's" rich. I needed to stop chasing every deal and ebook that came along. I knew people were making a good living online and I wanted a part of it!

So it was in December of 2006 that I decided to pick one thing and Master it before I moved on.

I had been making websites for myself and friends since 2001. So I knew I could do that. The one really big problem I had was getting traffic to my websites! Yeah, like no one else has that problem!

I decided to use Adsense because it seemed the easiest to make money with. I didn't buy any ebooks or sign up for any Guru training. I knew my subjects were interesting and other people would find them interesting as well. I just needed to know some more before reinventing myself!

I read everything I could about optimizing sites for Adsense. I dropped any of my sites that were not ideal for Adsense and only focused on those that were.

I tested different layouts, positions, fonts, etc, etc. I become an A/B tester Guru! I just had to know how I could get the most bang for my buck!

Now How Do I Get Traffic?

Once I figured out I knew quite a bit about Adsense optimization, I started learning all I could about search engine optimization. This was the most frustrating thing of all because everyone has a different opinion on what works and what doesn't. Who are you to believe?

Finally, after researched anyone who I thought remotely knew what they were talking about when it came to SEO. Finally, I found two gentlemen who talked the talk and walked the walk. I read everything I could from them. One offered a email newsletter and I joined for free. Those newsletters provided me the information I needed to finally get an idea of how to optimize my websites.

Just like I did with Adsense, I tested, tested and then tested more to see what worked and what didn't.

It took nearly a year for my first two websites to break $100 a day with Adsense. But I had finally done it!. The funny thing is, now that they pull in over a $100 per day, the click through rates seem to increase nearly every week.

Dodging Roadblocks Others Throw Up

During this whole drawn out process, I was the butt of many peoples jokes. Even my Husbands! Many people would want to know "Hey, you make a million off of the Internet yet?" or they would call me "Dawn the Internet Mogul". Most of it was tongue and cheek, but there were some who really meant it in an ugly way.

I've noticed over my 39 years that there are people who always want to see others fail. Don't give them the satisfaction!

I don't know any online program that will make you rich overnight. Just as in the real World, having an Internet company takes time and a lot of work. Many people simply lose Patience and quit just about the time they would start seeing money come in. That's sad seeing them so close and then give up. You must persevere!

The Big Day Arrives

One night earlier this year as my Husband and I were sitting down doing the bills, he said "Darn Hun, do you realize you're making more from the Internet than you are at work?"

I have to admit, I knew I was doing about the same but I wasn't at a level where I'd feel secure in giving up my Rat Race Postal job.

"Yeah, I thought I was pretty close" I said.

"So does this mean I can quit and work from home?" I asked half jokingly, half serious.

He stopped what he was doing, put down his pen and took off his glasses and looked at me and said "I know you hate your job. I know it's very stressful on you and to be honest, I know you don't mean to, but sometimes you bring it home. If you want to quit, go ahead."

You could have knocked me over with a feather!

After I regained my composer, we finished the bills and had a nice long discussion about it. The Children and I could be put on his Insurance for very little money. I had already racked up some retirement from the Post Office, so I had a retirement nest egg started.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized there was nothing stopping me from quitting!

And I did just that a month later, March 2008.

It was scary to begin with. But I was able to stay home with our youngest and save the Daycare bill. I also was able to start doing things with my Second Grader. And the funny thing is, I some free time and have been taking advanced Photoshop classes at our local college along with some advance Photography classes.

If all goes as planned, I'm going to start taking photo's and submitting them to Stock Photography websites for additional income. I really love Photography (two of my successful Adsense sites are over photography) and would love to earn extra income that way.

Well, there you have it. Boring I know but many of you asked! It's not for everyone, but if you have the drive and patience, I believe a person can make a living online. I'll keep you updated as I continue down this path they call Working From Home!

How To Know When It's Time To Quit Your Day Job

It's the question on everyone's mind. Well, anyone who ever thought about working from home.

"When will I know it's time to quit my day job?"

Some people will go through their entire life wondering this question. Some are so afraid of giving up the security of their day job and walking out on the limb of the unknown. These people will never realize their dream of making a living from home.

Others are so eager to quit their jobs, they quit prematurely and find their self financially strapped or worse. Of course, in my opinion, there's few things worse than working at a dead end job you hate! :)

So I've compiled a few tips for my readers on how to know when it's time to tell you boss "Take this job and shove it."

1. Obviously, one of the easy ways to determine when it's time to quit your day job is when your income from your work at home job rises to a comfortable level. This doesn't mean when the income reaches the same level as you're making now. This is any level where you're sure you could quit your day job and still live comfortable. Many work from homers will cut expenses and luxuries in order to be able to work from home. I certainly did years ago in order to be able to work out of my home.
2. When you day job starts holding you back from growing your home business. If your day job begins to interfere with your work from home job, it might be time to say "Adios day job!" If you're sure that you can keep growing your home business if you didn't have to trudge into the Office every day, then it might be the time to make the Big Move.
   
3. When your day job starts affecting your home business. If the stress and time constraints of your day job are hurting your home business, it's time to take a hard look at walking away from your 9 to 5 job. Many potential work from homers let their day job continually hurt their work from home job and never realize that they could have been successful a lot earlier if they had given up their day job.
4. When either job starts affecting your Family. I know how hard it is to work at a day job and try to start and run a home business. It can affect the way you treat your Family. If you find this is true in your case, then you need to sit down and take a hard look at both careers. One has to go. You'll need to ask yourself "Why am I trying to start a home business?" and "Why am I still at my day job?" Chances are, you're starting a home business for your Family. Don't let the stress affect your physical or mental health because just like crap, it rolls down hill. But in this case, it's generally your Family who is at the bottom of that hill and that just isn't right!
   
5. When your ethics are higher than the company's you work for. Believe it or not, I'm seeing more and more people go out on their own because they do not want to work for an unethical company. When you start sacrificing your own moral beliefs, bad things can happen in your life. Life is too short to put up with that!
6. Your co-workers hate you. Many of you will find that your co-workers will despise you for making a living from home. It's only because they are jealous. Many people love to see other fail and can not stand to see someone succeed. They may even go as far as trying to sabotage your home business in hopes you'll fail. I'm not joking, I've seen it happen too many times. Don't let these type of people bring you down. I used to work with a great guy. I even considered him a friend. But he was so negative when I started my home business I finally had to stop hanging around him. I simply chose friends who inspired me and encourage me to succeed.

There can be other clues as to when it's time to quit your day job. You may have your own reasons. The important thing is that you plan ahead for that great day when you walk out the door forever. It's generally not as easy as you think it will be, plus it can be kinda scary.

I know, I walked away from a good paying job with great benefits that I had been at for 9 years. The day I drove out of the parking lot for one last time was really scary. I was thinking the whole time "God, I hope I didn't just make a big mistake."

But I had to do it. It was holding me back from going forward with the business I had at the time. Which, I might add, failed two years later. But that's okay. I survived and learned many valuable lessons that I wouldn't have otherwise. Lessons that helped me on down the road.

My Supervisor said something to me as I was walking out the door that has stayed with me all these years. He said "When I hired you, I was sure you wouldn't hang around very long. I wondered why you stayed here all these years." Wow, you could have floored me. I simply said "I don't know either."

I knew I had stayed because I'd grown accustomed to the security of a weekly paycheck and benefits. I was unhappy, unchallenged and unappreciated. I knew I deserved more.

Since that time, I've started other successful work from home businesses. My only regret is that I didn't walk out sooner!